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Keeping a Portfolio of Evidence
We are always telling people what we can do. In dealings
with our colleagues, in job applications and during everyday conversations we
quantify our skills, knowledge and experience to reassure those around us. We
also use it as a way of expressing who we are. Never is this more critical than
when we are at work, where it is vital to gain the respect and trust of our
peers, management and clients.
Sadly it is no longer enough to just say that you are
able to do a job. More and more employers and customers are asking for
proof of our abilities. When changing employer we are increasingly asked
to complete psychometric tests and practical exercises as a measure of our
skills. But the current trend is to seek ‘real’ evidence of
competence. This is particularly applicable to people who move roles within
their organisation, or for young professionals moving up the career ladder; but
whatever your circumstances you may well find yourself needing to work with
competences at some point in the future.
Whether your introduction to the world of competences
comes from your employer, or through an individual desire, you will need to
prepare and maintain a portfolio of evidence. Here we try to help you through
the task of starting your portfolio, and give advice on the continuous process
of maintaining it.
Whether you are working towards professional recognition
through your institution, trying to follow a company scheme, or acting as a
consultant tasked with providing evidence of competence for clients, creating a
portfolio of evidence can be approached in the same way.
When searching for evidence, ask yourself "What could I
show someone to convince them that I am able to do this task?" Put yourself in
an assessor’s shoes and consider what it would take to convince you under
the same circumstances.
If you are undertaking a formal training course, or
academic studies, your achievements in these will give demonstrable proof of
attainment. However, in many instances you will be improving your performance
in your daily work with no externally provided proof or assessment of your
activities and achievements. In those circumstances you should try to identify
and keep evidence of work completed satisfactorily that is a testimony to your
skills.
Evidence may take many different forms, including:
- business/project plans
- proposals or reviews
- presentations to clients or at conferences
- specifications
- designs
- programmes
- internal memos
- letters, reports
- minutes of meetings (which demonstrate your contribution)
- employer assessments for pay and /or promotion reviews
- testaments from others witnessing your attainments
Whatever form your evidence takes, consider how it can be
verified as your own work. Obviously for documentation (such as reports or
papers) written under your own name this is not necessary. However, for items
where the author is not obvious, you should try to obtain a verifying signature
from an appropriate person, to confirm that it is an accurate record of the
activity and that it is your work. Often this will be your line manager,
supervisor or project leader. The signature could be on the document/item
itself or, if that is not appropriate, you could use an Evidence Summary
Record or your company’s equivalent (see Forms
for an example). Where you are using evidence which is from a joint project,
you might like to detail which parts of the work were your responsibility and
what specific actions you took.
There may also be times when your evidence includes an
un-assessable, individual experience such as a conversation. It is in this
situation that discussion with your Manager or Mentor will help you analyse
what you have gained from the experience and they may then be able to testify
to your experience.
Finally, when considering what constitutes evidence for a
particular competence, pay close attention to the level at which you perform.
This is particularly important when you are trying to demonstrate a mature and
professional approach. Many tasks can be performed at more than one level. For
example, you might be able to perform tests on a piece of equipment as a
trainee (whilst being supervised) or as an expert (being more able to assess
the results and have an understanding of which tests are required for
particular equipment.) Clearly these are very different levels of competence,
and your evidence should reflect the level at which you are working.
In many cases evidence will be paper-based and can be
stored in a folder. As your collection grows it will be important to keep a
record of what you hold and where it is located in your folder. Split your
evidence into logical sections, such as competence or functional areas, and
keep an overall index. You may also like to use a cross-referencing grid or
matrix that will help you relate particular pieces of evidence to the
appropriate competences. These can then be used as a quick reference guide, to
help you review or, should you wish, to extract a particular piece of evidence
from your folder.
Gathering evidence may not be easy to start with, as you
will need to get used to spotting possible sources. Also, you will probably
have a ‘backlog’ of competences for which to gather evidence, which
might be a little daunting at first. However, as you get used to the concept of
evidence (and competences in general) you will find yourself thinking in terms
of the results of your work as being evidence, and it will soon become second
nature. Once you have located evidence for all the achieved competence areas,
you need only maintain your portfolio through regular housekeeping, and adding
pieces as you aquire new competences or improve upon your past
achievements.
When you first start your folder, you may like to insert
a copy of your current c.v. and it might also be useful to include your
competence framework, copies of company appraisals or any assessments you have
done. It is also a good idea to have a list of your assessors somewhere in your
portfolio: you can then refer back to this, particularly if you move job or
company, should you ever need to contact them.
It is not necessary to store all evidence within the
portfolio. Small items of evidence such as photographs, witness statements,
certificates and short notes can easily be stored in a binder. However, larger
pieces of evidence (such as project reports, presentations, produced items,
etc.) and also items of a confidential nature, can not be removed from the
workplace. Their whereabouts can be noted in the index, and a summary of their
contents (or a general description of the item) placed in the portfolio. In
such cases your manager or assessor may sign the index or description, as it is
not possible for them to sign the item itself.
Your learning record should be a working document. In
some cases, you will be the only person who sees or uses it, particularly if
you are setting your own targets and assessing your own progress. However, you
should bear in mind that, on occasions, you may be called upon to provide proof
of your competence or a summary of your development. For example, at a job
interview or performance review, or working towards professional recognition.
Accumulating evidence of what you have done and how you did it is the means of
demonstrating competence, to yourself or someone else.
If you are undertaking formal training or academic
studies, your achievements in these will give demonstrable proof. But in many
instances you will be improving your performance in your daily work with no
externally provided proof of your activities and achievements. So try to
identify and keep evidence of work completed satisfactorily that you can later
produce.
Evidence may take different forms including
business/project plans, internal memos, letters, reports, minutes of meetings,
employer assessments for pay and/or promotion reviews, etc., and also
testimonies from others witnessing your attainments.
At the same time, do be careful to take sensible steps to
avoid breaching any copyright or contravening any security and commercial
confidences.
Your portfolio should contain some key document such as
your CV, current job description and person specification and your
Development Action Plan. You may also want to keep copies
of key certificates such as your main higher academic qualification and any
postgraduate studies. Most of these documents will need to be updated
periodically, so remember to date them.
Evidence only stays 'fresh' for a certain
amount of time. This is for two reasons:
- Although you have the proven ability to perform a particular task at a
specified point in the past, we all forget knowledge, and lose our abilities
and skills, with time. Therefore, evidence that we were competent to do
something in the past, is not evidence that we can do it now.
- As time goes by our abilities change, not just in respect of knowledge and
skills, but also in attitude and the manner in which we perform tasks. Usually
this path is one of increasing ability and responsibility, therefore you may
need to keep updating your evidence as it increases in quality. For example,
your first ever written report may have been perfectly adequate to prove your
ability to write a report: however, as time goes by and your skill increases,
you will want to give a better example, showing how accomplished you are
now.
There are various ideas on how long evidence life span
is, but different time-scales will apply to different types of evidence and
under different circumstances. For example, the ability to communicate
effectively (either verbally, in written form or giving presentations) will
stay with you for some considerable time, and probably won’t need updating
very often. However, if you were to claim competence in creating web sites or
some other field of I.T., it is unlikely that, without updating yourself on the
latest tools and techniques, you could still claim to be competent two years
later.
In general terms a period of two years is often quoted,
but you will need to use your judgement on this. In any case, for most of your
role you will be performing tasks that are repeated regularly: not only will
this provide a ready source of renewed evidence, it will also reflect your
ever-increasing level of proficiency.
Obviously, if evidence has to be refreshed regularly you
will need to undertake regular housekeeping to examine your portfolio and,
where appropriate, replace outdated items with fresh examples. This will
require some effort as you will need to update your cross-referencing and
indexing systems too, but is a necessary part of ensuring the portfolio is kept
current and thereby retains its value.
It is important that your evidence ‘carries
weight’. To do this it not only needs to be sufficient and appropriate,
but it also needs to have a ‘stamp of authority’. Having your
evidence signed off as a true and accurate record of your ability and
achievements, preferably by someone who is seen as having the status to judge
this, is a vital part of preparing your portfolio. Make sure you always keep a
list of the people who have signed off evidence for you, with contact details
and job titles where possible.
For some people, such as those working in secure
environments, gathering evidence can be difficult. No institution or employer
will expect you to breach security in order to provide evidence. In most cases
where it is necessary to inspect evidence arrangements will be made to ensure
that security is not compromised. You should consult with your own institution
if you suspect that this applies in your case.
In instances where it would be unwise to keep evidence of
specific projects in your folder, you may still add the item to your Index,
making a note of what the item is, where it may be found and which competence
it refers to. Where evidence cannot be placed in the folder you may use a
summary sheet or note to summarise your competence: your Manager/Mentor can
then sign this off. This will apply equally well to items that are large, or
difficult to handle and store (such as actual pieces of completed work).
Your portfolio will be a working document and, while you
are compiling it, the folder will be seen mainly by yourself, so appearance is
not initially important. However, if you find yourself needing to show your
portfolio to someone else you will need to ensure that:
- only relevant, up-to-date information has been included,
- all evidence is clearly indexed,
- evidence can be located without delay,
- the overall appearance of the folder is professional and well organised,
with no loose sheets of paper.
In order that you don’t get caught out by a sudden
need to show your portfolio, it is advisable to carry out regular housekeeping
exercises (see Evidence Shelf-life). During these you can
ensure that each piece of evidence is still relevant and easily accessible.
It is important that your records are indexed. This will
allow you to arrange your records in a logical way, to quickly access
information when you need to, and will help you when keeping your records
up-to-date. Initially you may find it easy just to keep a simple list of the
items you have, and may-be organise them into sections according to subject.
However, as time passes and you have larger or more detailed records you may
find you need to develop a more complex indexing system.
To make tracking of the evidence you have stored easier,
a cross-referencing system may be used. The principle is to be able to
determine quickly which pieces of evidence relate to which competences, thus
helping you establish which you have met, and which still demand further items
of evidence.
When compiling a portfolio, some people like to file
their evidence according to the competence it relates to. However, as one piece
of evidence may go towards satisfying the criteria for more than one competence
statement, it is not always possible to do this. You may therefore need a
matrix, detailing each piece of evidence, which will be in addition to, and
separate from, your index. You will then be able to use either route to
search/review your evidence, depending on your needs.
There are many ways in which matrices can be tackled and
you should devise a system that meets your own requirement.
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